In this March 20, 2014, photo supplied by the United States Coast Guard, Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw maneuvers through ice on the St. Marys River near the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.(Photo: Petty Officer 2nd Class Levi Read, U.S. Coast Guard)

The state of Michigan has signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that will send $52 million in state tax dollars to a project that will complete a new lock at the Soo Locks facility.

The agreement means that the Corps can now accept the state’s money and get the project in Sault Ste. Marie under way and possibly finish the lock a year early, saving $30 million in additional construction and interest costs.

“The Soo Locks are essential to our economy and national security,” Snyder said in a statement. “I’m pleased that the work is finally getting under way and hope that Congress quickly provides the rest of the funds needed to complete the project.”

The Corps also is kicking in $32 million for work to deepen the channel for the larger freighters that will use the new lock.

Another $21 million federal grant was awarded in December, which will be used to rehabilitate a dock that is used to stage vessels at the locks.

The state’s contribution will be used to pay for construction activities, including a portion of the channel deepening as well as design work for the new lock.

In October, the Senate voted 99-1 in favor of a $4.4-billion package of water infrastructure projects and spending that included a measure authorizing $922 million to be spent on the new lock.

Once funded, construction of the new lock could put about 15,000 people to work. The U.S. House already approved the bill and President Donald Trump has signaled his support for the project.

While the measure authorizes the project, it doesn't guarantee its construction: Congress, in the years to come, will still have to find ways to include the necessary funding in its annual appropriations bills in order to pay for it. And large projects — especially those on a large backlog of projects run by the Army Corps of Engineers — can take a decade or longer to happen.